Development of neutron time-of-flight measurement system for 1.7-MV tandem proton accelerator with lithium target

In this study, we developed a neutron time-of-flight (nTOF) measurement system for a 1.7-MV tandem proton accelerator with a target covered with 300-nm-thick lithium (Li) layer. With implementation of beam chopping module after its ion source, the accelerator is configured to operate in pulsed-beam mode with a pulse width <50 ns at 20-kHz repetition rate. This enables the gamma flash-type nTOF measurement system to identify the neutron generated with 3-MeV proton beam energy. The nTOF system consists of a 3″ cylindrical NaI(Tl) and four stilbene scintillation detectors. The NaI(Tl) scintillator is placed 50 cm from the Li target to measure the time of beam irradiation on the target, and the stilbene detectors are placed 2 and 2.4 m away to measure nTOF at each location. The nTOF system successfully measured the generated neutron energy at irradiated proton energies of 2.6 and 3.0 MeV with an average energy resolution of 15%.